Advertisement:

The Hero is fighting in the middle of a bustling metropolis. Suddenly, a Baby Carriage rolls into the middle of the battleground. For whatever reason, he (and it's usually a man) can't return the baby to its mother or hand it to one of The Team to get it out of the way while he fights. Instead, he picks the baby up and continues the fight, casually picking off Mooks while cradling the infant in the crook of one arm.

If the baby is a little older, expect the hero to tell the youngster to cover his or her eyes while he finishes the battle.

The baby or child doesn't have to be picked up before or during the fight. It can just as easily be the hero's kid, in which case there is optimal crossover between this and Action Mom / Action Dad. The important thing here is that the baby is held by the hero during the battle. If a baby is present, but not carried, then it's Baby Carriage. If one of the Innocent Bystanders just so happens to be a baby, that is also not this trope. If the hero is fighting specifically to defend a child, then it's Mama Bear or Papa Wolf. If the hero and baby are together for the majority of the plot/plotline, it's Badass and Child Duo.

Advertisement:

This trope is useful for demonstrating the hero's sensitive side, as well as showing just how macho he is. Not only is he caring for an innocent, but he's fighting one-handed, to boot. This can also be used to show that Even Evil Has Standards, as some Mooks will refuse to fight until the baby is safely out of the way. It also adds a sense of additional danger and urgency to the scene, though Improbable Infant Survival is in full effect here.

Advertisement:

Examples:

In Gintama, Gintoki and 'Appo, the Doorstop Baby, implied to be his child (he's not) from a one-night stand. At one point, Gin-chan needs both arms to fight so he throws the baby straight up into the air and catches him once the mooks are taken out.

In Bleach, Kenpachi (a Blood Knight who attained the rank of Captain via a Klingon Promotion) took in his eventual lieutenant as a baby. A clearer example occurred in a filler arc where a sociopath zanpakuto acquired one as a Morality Pet for an episode.

Similar to the Batman Beyond example, there's an arc in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics where Spider-Man and Kitty Pryde are tasked with taking care of a robot baby for a human health class. The robot ends up worse for the wear.

The whole point of the 2008 Cableseries◊ is to protect the mutant messiah baby from Bishop, who thinks her existence will lead to a Bad Future.

Nomad, who picks up the baby Bucky in the first story arc of his solo series and carries her around through most of the series run.

In "Unpaid Internship", part of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Hearts series, Batman has to help the Justice League save the world while simultaneously looking after a toddler, whose provenance he resolutely refuses to discuss.

In Claire the Kind, the first time Claire, Mary and Darci encounter Bular, Claire had picked up Enrique from her dad. Because of this, Enrique was caught up in the whole troll hunter problem and winds up going with them on their first trip to trollmarket after nearly getting killed by the gumm-gumm prince.

In The Fate of the Furious, Deckard has to rescue Dom's baby son from an enemy plane. He gives the kid headphones playing relaxing music, and proceeds to kill about a dozen mooks while keeping an eye on him.

Literature

Famous example from the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where Zhao Yun, a hero in service of warlord Liu Bei, defeats some 50 warriors in service of rival warlord Cao Cao in single-combat while carrying his lord's infant heir.

In the Young Wizards series, Irina Mladin makes a habit of keeping both her infant son and a parakeet with her on business. The thing is, Irina happens to be the strongest wizard on Earth; "business" for her could mean anything from stopping natural disasters to confronting The Lone Power itself.

Live Action TV

In the Robin Hood episode Parent Hood Robin and his men find an abandoned baby just before the bad guys show up. While they're fighting them off, Robin deftly dispatches a mook, saying "Do you mind, I'm trying to get a baby to sleep!"

One episode of Power Rangers RPM has one of the Rangers holding a baby carriage in the middle of the fight. He ends up using it as a weapon while the baby is still inside (he doesn't know the baby is there before this.)

Happens during a fight in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. At one point, Herc throws the baby up into the air so he can use both hands at once, then catches the baby after he's done.

Xena: Warrior Princess also does this. During one episode, she has to protect a baby prophesied to take the throne of a kingdom from the king's corrupt agents who want to kill him. And yes, she does the same thing as Herc during one point of the episode.

The Doctor Who episode "Closing Time" features the baby Alfie (or Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All) quite prominently, even as the characters fight off Cybermen and Cybermats. And even though the Doctor's most certainly a badass, that doesn't stop him from being delightfully awkward and sweet with the kid.

In the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time, Prince Charming is forced to fight his way through an army of mooks all while he's holding and protecting his newborn daughter, Emma. It is as badass as it sounds.

Tepet Ejava of Exalted started off as the Baby half of this trope - born on a battlefield where her mother was leading the legions of House Tepet. Ejava's mother didn't want to leave her in someone else's care, so had the newborn girl strapped to her chest, her armour modified to protect both mother and child, before going out onto the battlefield and putting her sword to use. It's no wonder, then, that Tepet Ejava has risen to be one of the most talented generals the Realm's ever seen.

The Pokémon Kangaskhan is a mother who carries her baby in her pouch as she battles. As of Pokémon X and Y, Kangaskhan can briefly become Mega Kangaskhan and shift this to a Badass and Child Duo, as the baby gets a boost and joins its mama in fighting.

In The Order of the Stick, Hilgya Firehelm carries her baby in a papoose with her at all times, including when battling vampires, and refuses to make other arrangements for the baby.

"Okay, Kudzu, Mommy's going to cover your sweet little eyes while she burns it all down."

Western Animation

In The Simpsons episode "Crook And Ladder", Marge's Smothering Mother magazine has one of these on the cover.

A sort-of example in the Batman Beyond episode "The Eggbaby". Terry is Egg Sitting and ends up fighting crime while still caring for his egg.

And to top it off? He ended up getting the top grade in his class for the project, as, on top of being cared for physically, the 'baby' got the mental stimulation from being brought along that none of Terry's other classmates had thought to provide.

In Young JusticeInvasion Cheshire and Red Arrow went to Tibet to rescue the real Roy Harper, Cheshire brought their baby with them who witnesses the asskicking the two do the local Mooks.

In one episode of the Fairly OddParents, an in-universe issue of the Crimson Chin has the Chin babysitting an infant, and having to bring it along on his crimefighting. "Justice makes it giggle!" Then that issue's villain gets the baby and remarks, "Evil makes it giggle!"

A first season episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars had two clone troopers discovering a small child hiding in a village after the rest of the residents were forced out. They realize that she knows secret passages that will help them ambush the Separatists. Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up spending part of the battle with her on his hip, and when he tries to cover her eyes she pulls his hands away.

Other

A Real Life example: Sacajawea led Lewis and Clark across North America while carrying her infant son, Jean-Baptiste, on her back.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy